5 ways your mobile can help you get fit

Whether you’re a gym bunny or more into keeping fit in your home, garden or local park, we could all do with a bit of motivation and help every now and then.

But don’t panic if a personal trainer is too expensive, we’ve got five apps for your smartphone that can provide motivation, a dedicated playlist at the correct speed for your activity and even tailor your exercises for you.

All of the apps are available for both iPhones and smartphones running Google Android, so now there’s no excuses for not sticking to your fitness regime.

Set goals
Want to set a specific goal such as run three times a week, or hit the gym at least two weekday mornings? Use Google Calendar. Not only can you schedule in your sessions to meet the goals using this free app, you can even connect the app to either Google Fit or Apple Health (if you’re using an iPhone) and it will then automatically mark the session as done. You can see your progress towards the goal as well.

Run to the beat
Love working out to music but hate it when a song comes on that’s either to fast or slow for the activity you’re doing – think an upbeat dance track when you’re trying to cool down. If so, Fit Radio is a great free app. It’s got hundreds of playlists designed for specific sports but the songs all feature specific bpm rate. You can even select a bpm that suits you (eg 130bpm) and see only mixes that match this, although you do need internet access to use the app.

Alternatively, if you’re a Spotify premium subscriber the music streaming service offers a similar function. From the Browse section choose Running and then select the playlist you’d like to run to. Tap Start Run and then begin running. Spotify will automatically detect the tempo you’re running at automatically and play music that matches it for your run. You can even manually adjust the tempo if you need too. Again, you need internet to use the feature.

Workouts to suit you
Love the idea of High Interval Intensity Training (HIIT) but worried you’ll find the routines too hard or easy? Home Workout:Personal Trainer is the ideal app. It has a range of different workouts based on different levels and different areas of the body, so whether you're new and want to tone your whole body or a pro that wants to focus on your legs, this app has a workout for you. The app not only gives you a video demonstrating the exercise, it also times you as well so there's no need to keep one eye on the stopwatch. The app is free and has 10 workouts, but if you want a dedicated 12-week plan with a specific goal, then you'll need to fork out between £10 to £19.99, depending upon if you want three month's access or a lifetime membership.

Compete with friends
Sometimes the best form of motivation can be a friendly competition with your friends or family when it comes to how many steps you take or how far you travel each day. Many activity trackers have a companion app that lets you do this, but your friend needs to be using the same brand of activity tracker as you. However, thanks to Stridekick, which was recommended to us by Vodafone you can see how you compare to your friends that have a number of different activity trackers including Fitbit, Jawbone, Apple Watch and even smartphones with Google Fit on them. Admittedly your friend will need to sign up for their own Stridekick account but it's simple and free. You can set your own challenges and invite other Stridekick users to join in or take part in a challenge for the Stridekick community.

Exercise to earn
Need some motivation to exercise? How about some cold hard cash. BetterPoints does just that - it awards you two points for every minute of walking, running or cycling you do per week - although this is capped at 150 minutes. You can exchange these points for shopping vouchers for the likes of Wallis, Miss Selfridge and B&Q. Admittedly you need a minimum of 5,950 points for a reward but you can top your points total up by joining programmes and filling in surveys.